root cap
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root cap
n. Botany
A thimble-shaped mass of cells that covers and protects the root tip.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
root cap
a structure found at the apex of all ROOTS (except those of many water plants), produced by the APICAL MERISTEM. The cap consists of a thimble-shaped collection of PARENCHYMA cells which have a protective function. As the root pushes its way through the soil the outer (older) cells of the root cap are sloughed off and replaced by new cells from the MERISTEM.Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005